Minister urges students of hygiene to see waste as wealth

Mr Michael Yaw Gyato, the Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources has urged students of School of Hygiene, Korle-Bu, to be creative and take advantage of waste in the country to create wealth.

He said it was imperative for the students to inculcate the habit of entrepreneurial skills in them and diversify their horizon to be productive by recycling and processing waste into energy and renewable products and not only rely on government for employment.

The Deputy Minister gave the advice when he visited the School and interacted with management of the institution on their challenges and the way forward.

He also visited the Old Weija Landfill Site and the Mpoase Dansoman landfill site to assess the progress of work as far as the clearing of waste in the city was concerned.

The Ministry last week announced that government had spent about GH¢2.5 million to clear waste within the illegal dump sites in the national capital.

Mr Gyato said the School was under the Ministry and was working assiduously to ensure that the students would be employed into the various districts assemblies after completion of the course.

He urged the students to adopt proactive measures to ensure they effectively have the capacity to management waste in the country, which would translate the health being of Ghanaians.

Mr Gyato said the Ministry of Finance has released GH¢50 million towards the construction of 15 mini waste transfer stations in Accra to be strategically located to serve as stop-gap measure before the waste would be cleared to major waste transfer stations in Achimota and Kpone.

The Deputy Minister was impressed with state of work at the Old Weija Landfill Site; saying, about 60 percent of waste was cleared at the site and commended the security personnel and the contractors for good work done.

He said the Ministry was committed to help stop the illegal dumping of refuse, especially those that prevented the rivers from flowing freely, saying some of the landfill sites were often covered with sand and sold to people to build on, which turned to block waterways and caused floods whenever it rained.

He called on all to stop the indiscriminate creation of refuse dumping sites, especially within the markets places since such acts creates sanitation and environmental hazards which pose health risk to the citizenry.

Mr Rapheal Komla Nutsukpui, the Principal at School of Hygiene, Accra said the school was affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology offering three years Diploma in Environmental Health.

He said the school was devoted to producing competent health officers to meet the needs of the country which include protection, prevention, promotion and rehabilitation of health.